I have seen some suggestions on here for natural remedies for depression and just had a few questions, plus a bit of a vent I guess. I have always struggled with depression and anxiety since I was a child. I have seen fish oil suggested here several times as something that helps. I am very allergic to shellfish (anaphylaxis) and I have seen on cod liver oil bottles that it shouldn't be taken by anyone allergic to shellfish. Are there any kinds of liquid fish oil that would be safe? I am still nursing my 21-mo-old son and don't want to do anything that would be dangerous for him, but I would think fish oil should be ok to take? It just seems like such a vicious cycle - everything piles up and seems overwhelming (money issues, home repairs, car repairs, house cleaning, more money issues, kids' needs with therapy, breathing treatments, medical bills, etc. etc. etc. etc.), my depression comes back with a vengence, and it makes everything else that much worse. My DH gets frustrated and moody, my kids pick up on it, it's like a poison that just filters through everything. I hate that my mood can have such a negative effect on my family and that when I'm feeling down it just gets into such a downward spiral for everything. Plus we just found out that our younger son has severe asthma (not a big surprise with his many clinic visits for respiratory distress), and our insurance is refusing to cover any respiratory related treatments for him due to a lapse in coverage where he was hospitalized with respiratory distress and now it's considered a preexisting condition. (His medicine alone is over $150 a month.) We also pay our older son's therapy out-of-pocket (over $1,000 a month) due to his health issues, not being able to stay healthy around other children with constant serious respiratory infections, and our school district not providing adequate services (that could be a whole other post ...). Suffice it to say that between caring for the kids, trying to keep up with basic housecleaning and trying to work from home full time but barely keeping up financially (not really keeping up since collecters call daily) and not getting a lot of emotional support from DH who still wants to believe that our older son will just "outgrow" his problems (he has autism, chronic severe lung disease, tube feedings, global delays, etc. due to extreme prematurity) some days it's just really hard to keep going. (No, I'm not suicidal.) Sorry for the "poor me" attitude - I really would like to find something to help me stay more even emotionally. I took meds in the past but had terrible side effects and on one of them (Paxil) even became very suicidal so I am hoping to stay away from those if possible. I don't see a counselor partly for financial reasons and partly because there is no one to watch the kids while I go for that - DH won't do it due to our DS2's tendency to get hysterical if he's away from me for more than five minutes, there are no sitters that I have found that are comfortable with our older son's medical needs, and our families are both over an hour away ... but there I go again with my hopelessly pessimistic attitude toward things, which is a big part of my problem ...

My dh takes inositol (powder) for OCD, though I believe it can also be used for depression. It's not cheap either though, it adds up to about $70 or $80 a month I believe.

You might be able to fight that "pre-existing" condition thing with your son, if you have the energy. Although, I practically cry everytime I have to deal with our health insurance company, so I know sometimes it's just easier to fork over the $.

Since a portion of your stress is coming from family medical problems, you might find out if there is a support group for parents (through you hospital, ask your doctors, or call the hospital directly and ask about community services.) At least in our area, there are a number of support groups for parents with children with autism. It's not as great as one-on-one therapy, but it might help to connect with other parents.